Not for nuthin'…. But….. on Sunday the MOAM was going on about Stephen King and his $5.32 hi-test. Gas at the pump is what makes the headlines. But here on the North Shore, the number that really scares people doesn't show up on a sign out on Route 1A. It shows up on the slip the oil man tucks in your storm door. On Monday, the Governor noticed too.
What happened Monday
On Monday, October 5, Gov. Maura Healey went to the Edward G. Connolly Center, a senior center in Everett, and signed an executive order declaring a "State of Energy Emergency" (Boston Globe; WBUR). Her office says Massachusetts heating oil averaged $6.08 a gallon the week of September 28, compared with $3.52 this time last year (Globe). And it hasn't let up. The state's newest weekly survey, taken October 5, came in at $6.12 (Mass.gov DOER price page).
Here's what's in the order:
- A new benefit for middle-class oil heat. It's one-time help of up to $680 for oil-heat households earning 60% to 100% of state median income. For a family of four, that's more than $103,049 and up to $171,749. The state expects about 50,000 households to qualify. The money is available starting in December through April 30, 2027, or until the funding runs out, and it's run by the same local agencies that handle fuel assistance now (NBC Boston).
- $15 million more for fuel assistance. That money goes to the state's Home Energy Assistance Program (HEAP, which runs on the federal LIHEAP money) for about 156,000 low-income households. Families who heat with oil get a 20% bump, and families with gas or electric heat get 15% (NBC Boston). According to the administration, a family of four earning up to $103,049 could get $870 to $1,450 for oil or propane this winter (WBUR).
- The SMART solar charge comes off electric bills for three months. The state will put in $80 million to cover it for January through March 2027 (NBC Boston).
- The Alternative Energy Portfolio Standard charge gets cut in half this winter, worth an estimated $20 million (NBC Boston).
- Price-gouging protections turn on with the emergency declaration, and the Governor says state agencies will monitor and enforce them (NBC Boston).
She also asked Congress for another $3 billion in federal heating aid and kicked off an Emergency Winter Warmth Fund with Citizens Energy, which put in $100,000 to start it. Her office puts the whole package at "nearly $150 million" in relief (NBC Boston).
Glad for the help
The MOAM will say this plainly: this is real money, and it lands right where it hurts. Do the basement math. A 275-gallon fill at $3.52 was about $968. At $6.08 it's about $1,672. That's roughly $700 more for one tank, and the Governor said the same thing herself: "Many could pay as much as $700 more for a single fill-up" (WBUR). So the $680 benefit just about covers what this year's price adds to one fill.
The middle-income piece matters most around here. Statewide, about one in five households heats with oil (WBUR). In Essex County it's about 39% (CheapestOil). Think of the Old Town capes, the Clifton colonials and the 1700s houses along the harbor, plenty of them with a steel tank in the cellar. Lots of North Shore families make too much for regular fuel assistance but are a long way from comfortable writing $1,600 checks all winter. Picture a teacher married to a firefighter with two kids. Until Monday, that household didn't qualify for state heating help. Now it might.
So if you heat with oil and you think you're in that income range, bookmark mass.gov/heatinghelp. The state says applications for the new middle-income benefit open in December. If you're under the regular fuel-assistance limit, you can apply for that one right now (Mass.gov). Don't let anybody's politics, the MOAM's included, talk you out of money meant to keep your house warm.
But….
First, the calendar. Election Day is November 3. This order landed four weeks before it, and the Globe pointed out that Healey faces reelection in less than a month (Globe). Her Republican opponent, Mike Minogue, says he's been pushing a similar plan for a year. "I'm glad she proposed it," he said. When reporters asked if it was an election ploy, he answered: "Of course it does. Everyone sees this, it's obviously the exact thing she's doing, so that afterwards she'll go back to taxing and spending" (NBC Boston). In fairness to the Governor, heating oil is up more than 70% in a year (Globe), and any governor would be expected to do something. She blames the war in Iran and the Trump administration for the prices (WBUR). Two things can be true at once. The help is real, and the timing is political. When both candidates want roughly the same thing, the MOAM's only question is why it took until October of an election year.
Second, the solar charge. This is the part that made the MOAM put his coffee down. To lower your bill this winter, the state will pay the SMART solar charge for three months so it doesn't get passed on to you, and it will cut the Alternative Portfolio Standard charge in half. The administration says those moves will lower energy bills for about 85% of ratepayers (NBC Boston). Fair enough. But if taking a charge off your bill counts as emergency relief, then that charge was making your bill bigger the rest of the time. That's not a talking point. That's arithmetic. The administration says the solar program "continues to deliver benefits to all Massachusetts ratepayers" (NBC Boston), and clean-energy folks will tell you it pays off down the road. Maybe so. But you can't call it relief when the charge goes away and then act like it costs nothing when it comes back on April 1. For what it's worth, nobody's thrilled. Minogue wants to slash what he calls "climate taxes" on utility bills. On the other side, the Sierra Club's Massachusetts director called the package "not even close to enough," and the Conservation Law Foundation compared it to "patching a leak while ignoring the broken pipe" (Globe).
Third, who pays. WBUR noted that Healey didn't say how much all this will cost the state or where the money is coming from (WBUR). Her office did say the money comes, at least in part, from "alternative compliance payments." Those are payments electricity suppliers make to the state when they miss their clean-energy quotas, and they usually go to clean-energy projects (WBUR; Globe). So penalty money from the green rules is paying to take green charges off our bills for one winter. Credit where it's due: that's not a new tax. But it's one-time money for a problem that shows up every January.
MOAM's checklist
- Apply for fuel assistance now, and watch for December. Regular fuel assistance (HEAP) applications are open now. Applications for the new middle-income benefit open in December (Mass.gov). For either one, go to mass.gov/heatinghelp, call 2-1-1, or call the statewide line at (800) 632-8175. If you live in Marblehead, Salem, Beverly, Peabody, Danvers, Middleton or Topsfield, your local agency is North Shore Community Action Programs in Peabody, (978) 531-0767 ext. 136. NSCAP processes applications first come, first served, and the new $680 benefit lasts only "until funding lasts" (NBC Boston). Either way, get in line early. You don't have to be on public assistance or behind on your bills, and renters whose heat is included in the rent can qualify too (NBC Boston). Applying is free. Anybody charging an "application fee" is running a scam (Mass.gov).
- Shop around before you book. In the state's October 5 survey, the low-end dealers averaged $5.69 a gallon and the high-end dealers $6.61 (Mass.gov DOER). On 250 gallons, that 92-cent gap is about $230. This morning, the cheapest cash quotes in Essex County were down around $5.20 (CheapestOil, Essex County). Check that the dealer delivers to your street, and ask about senior discounts.
- Know the gouging rules are on. With the emergency declared, price-gouging protections apply (NBC Boston). If a quote looks way out of line next to the DOER weekly numbers, report it to the Attorney General's office.
- Get the burner tuned before the first cold snap. A dirty nozzle and a clogged filter burn oil you paid $6 for. Speaking as a Construction Supervisor: while the tech is there, have him look at the tank. Rust, weeping seams, a wet spot under the filter. You want to find that in October, not with a cellar full of fumes in February.
- Button up the house. Weatherstrip the doors, caulk the drafty windows, and insulate the pipes in the crawlspace. If you qualify for fuel assistance, NSCAP's partner Action, Inc. also runs no-cost weatherization and heating-repair programs (NSCAP).
- Check on your neighbors. If there's an older person on your street, knock and ask if they've got oil and if they've applied. Some folks are too proud to ask. A neighbor can make the call with them.
Look, the MOAM will take the help, and you should too. File the paperwork, shop your oil and look in on the folks next door. That's how a small town gets through a hard winter. But a one-time check four weeks before Election Day and a solar charge that disappears for exactly one quarter aren't an energy policy. They get us through one heating season. Come April, whoever's in the corner office, somebody ought to tell us the plan for next winter.
MOAM Out.
Sources: NBC Boston, Oct. 5, 2026 · WBUR / State House News Service, Oct. 5, 2026 · Boston Globe, Oct. 5, 2026 · Mass. DOER home heating fuel prices · Mass.gov Home Energy Assistance Programs (mass.gov/heatinghelp) · Mass.gov: Apply for HEAP · NSCAP Home Energy Assistance · CheapestOil, Essex County (Oct. 6, 2026)
